Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/268

Rh 254 GEORGIUS. opinions which Philoponus held arc attacked. 9. Encomium in Sanctum Anastasium Martyrem ; or, more fully, Bios Kal iroAirela Koi aOK-rjais rod dylou Koi 4vS6^ov oalov fxdpTvpos ' Avaaracrlov rod f^ap- TvpfijaavTos ef UepcriSi, Fita, Institutum, et Cer- tamen Sancti, Gloriosi^ et Venerabilis Martyris Anas- tasti, qui in Perside Mariyrium passus est. This piece is in prose. 10. Els tov hBXaxepvais j^aof. In Templum Deiparae Constantinopoli in Blaclier- nis sit urn ; a short poem in iambic verse. These are all the extant works of George ; but that he wrote others appears from the quotations which are found in ancient writers, and of which a considerable number have been collected from the ChonograpUa of Theophanes, the Lexicon of Suidas, the Compendium of Cedrenus, the Historia Eccle- siastica of Nicephorus Callisti, and the Commen- taries of Isaacius Tzetzes. George is mentioned also bj"- Johannes Tzetzes. Some works known or asserted to be extant have been ascribed to George, but without suffi- cient reason. Usher and others have conjectured that he was the compiler of the Chronicon Faschale^ but Quercius refutes the supposition. Possevino mentions a MS. work of his, De Gestis Impera- torum Constantinopolitanorum ; but the supposition of the existence of such a work probably originated in a mistake. A MS. in the Imperial Library at Vienna is described by Nesselius and Reimannus as Georgii Plsidae Diaconi et Cliartophylacis mag- nae Ecclesiae Gonstantinopolltanae et Cyrilli Mo- nachi Breviarium Chronographicim ex Variis His- toriis concinnatum^ ^c. This MS. is probably the same which Raderus mentions as having been read by him. It is a modern MS., probably of the latter part of the sixteenth century ; and an exami- nation of the title of the MS. itself shows that the Chronological Compendium is ascribed to Cyril alone. But to the proper title of this work is pre- fixed the inscription Tewpyiov roO UiaiSou koI Kv- plWov ; an indication, perhaps, that the writer of the Codex intended to transcribe some of the works of George. The astronomical poem known as Empedoclis Sphaera, consisting of 168 iambic verses, has been conjectured to be George's ; but it has been observed by Fabricius, that tlie writer speaks in one place like a polytheist, while all the known writings of George are distinct expressions of Christian belief ; and Quercius thinks this ob- jection is decisive. Le Long speaks of Greek Commentaries on the Epistles of Paul by George of Pisidia as being extant in the Imperial Library at Vienna, but they are not noticed in the cata- logues of Lambecius and Reimannus; and it is pro- bable that Le Long's statement is erroneous. Some persons have improperly confounded Georpe of Pisidia with George of Nicomedeia, who lived two centuries later [Gkorgius, No. 36] ; and Cave erroneously makes George of Pisidia arch- bishop of Nicomedeia, although he correctly fixes the time in which he lived. The versification of George is correct and ele- gant, and inharmonious verses are very rare. He was much admired by the later Byzantine writers, and was very commonly compared with Euripides, to whom some did not hesitate to prefer him. But his poems, however polislied, are frequently dull, though in the Hexatmeron there are some passages of more elevated character. The Hexatmeron and De Vanitate Vitae. with GEORGIUS. such fragments as had been then collected, with a Latin version b}-^ Fed. Morel, were first published in 4to. Paris, 1584. Some copies of the edition have the date 1585 in the title-page. The Hexa'c- meron was also published by Brunellus, as a work of Cyril of Alexandria, together with some poems of Gregory Nazianzen and other pieces, 8vo. Rome, 1590. Both pieces, with the fragments, were re- printed in the appendix to the Bibliotheca Patrum of La Bigne, fol. Paris, 1624, and with the version of Morel, and one or two additional fragments, in the Paris edition of the Bibliotheca Patrum, fol. 1654, vol. xiv. p. 389, &c. The Latin version of Morel is in the edition of the Bibliot/ieca, fol. Lyon. 1677, vol. xii. p. 323, &c. The De Expe- dilione Imperatoris Heraclii contra Persas, the BeLlum Avaricum, the Ilymnus Acathistus, the I?i Sanctam Jesu Christi D. N. Resurrectionem, the Heraclias, the Hexatmeron, the De Vanitate Vitae, the Contra Severum, the Encomium in S. Anasta- sium Martyrem, and a much-enlarged collection of fragments, with a valuable preface, introductions to the several pieces, a Latin version and notes by Joseph Maria Quercius of Florence, were pub- lished in the Corporis Historiae Byzantinae Nova Appendix, fol. Rome, 1777. The Appendix com- prehends also the works of Theodosius Diaconus and Corippus Africanus Grammaticus by otlier editors. The De Eocpeditione contra Persas, Bel- lum Avaricum, and Heraclias are edited by Bekker and included in the Bonn reprint of the Byzantine writers. The little poem In Templum Deiparae, ^c, was printed by Ducange in p. 65 of the notes to his Zonaras, in the Paris edition of the Byzan- tine historians. Bandurius printed it with a Latin version in his Imperium Onentale, lib. vii. p. 177 ; and Fabficius, with another Latin version, in his Bibl.Gr. vol. viii. , p. 615. (Quercius, ut sup.; Fabric. Bibl. Gr. vol. i. p. 185, vol. vii. pp. 450, 472, &c., vol. viii. pp.612, 615 ; Cave, Hist. Litt. vol. i. p. 583.) 45. ScHOhARius. [Gennadius op Constan- tinople, No. 2.] 46. Syncellus ; termed also Abbas and Mo- NACHUS, lived in the latter part of the eighth and beginning of the ninth century. He obtained his distinguishing epithet from having been syncellus or personal attendant of Tarasius, patriarch of Constantinople, who died A. D. 806. Theophanes, who was his friend, describes him as a man of talent and learning, especially well versed in chro- nographical and historical subjects, which he had studied very deeply. He died in " the orthodox faith," without completing his principal (and indeed only known) work, the completion of which he strongly urged, as his dying request, upon his friend Theophanes. He is the author of a chronography, or chro- nicle, the title of which in full is as follows : 'E/c- A0717 Xpovoypa(plas crvvTayei(ra vtto Fewpyiov Movaxov 5i'7/ceAAoi» yeyovoros Tapaa-'iov Uarpidp- Xov KwuffTauTivovTcoKews dird 'ASct/u /J-exp^ ^'o- KT]Tiauoi}, A select Chronicle, drawn up by George the Monk, Sy?icellus of Tarasius, Patriarch of Constantinople, from Adam to Diocletian. The author states that he intended to bring his work down to A. D. 800 ; but, as already stated, he was cut off by death, and the work only comes down to the accession of Diocletian, a. d. 284. The work is included in the various editions ol" the Byzantine writers. Goarus, the Parisian editor,
 * Y.'YKcifxiou eis top ayiou 'AvaffTaaiov jj-dpTvpa,